10 facts about Chuck Hagel

The potential front-runner for Defense secretary in President Barack Obama’s second term is a familiar Washington face, but has stayed largely out of the public spotlight since retiring from the Senate in 2009.

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1. He’s a Vietnam War veteran. Hagel served in the Army with his brother, Tom, in 1968. They were both infantry squad leaders with the Army’s 9th Infantry Division. Hagel received two Purple Hearts for his service.

2. He was harshly critical of President George W. Bush’s foreign policy. Though a fellow Republican, Hagel began to differ with Bush often during the Iraq War. And although he supported the U.S. invasion, Hagel was among three Republican senators to support Democratic-sponsored legislation in July 2007 to require Iraq troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days.

He also opposed the Iraq troop “surge,” calling the political interests involved “a Ping-Pong game with American lives.”

At a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Hagel called the surge "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out,” to applause from attendees.

3. He was bandied about as a possible Defense secretary during Obama’s first term. Obama quickly said that he was interested in including Republicans in his Cabinet, and Hagel emerged as a front-runner at the time.

The Sunday Times in March 2008 quoted Obama as saying, "Chuck Hagel is a great friend of mine, and I respect him very much." Obama eventually elected to keep Bush’s last Defense secretary, Robert Gates, in his post through 2011.

Now, the only Republican in Obama’s Cabinet is Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former congressman from Illinois.

4. He’s local. Hagel and his wife, Lilibet, and their son Ziller and daughter Allyn live in McLean, Va. He’s a distinguished professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and chairman of the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank that promotes transatlantic cooperation and international security. And he’s as co-chairman of the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board and chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Board.

5. He’s a cell phone magnate. In 1984, Hagel co-founded Vanguard Cellular, a mobile phone manufacturer that made him a multi-millionaire. Vanguard was bought in 1998 by AT&T Wireless for $900 million in cash and stock and the assumption of $600 million of debt. More than 2,000 people were employed at Vanguard, which was headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., during the company’s peak.

Readers' Comments (8)

Chuck Hagle is a true "maverick" — a political cliche exploited and brandished by McCain in 2008. Hagle was absolutely right in opposing the Iraq war, albeit (wrongly) voting in favor of the initial invasion. He was the only GOP senator willing to buck his own party, based on moral convictions and not for short term political gains.

And, yet, the surge worked out great. I love Dems and closet Dems like Hagel were so supportive of invading Iraq when it was politically popular but then jumped ship when it wasn't. The fact that he's indifferent to another Holocaust (which is the only logical outcome of America turning its back on Israel) is also disturbing. I hope he's grilled by GOP senators, if not out right blocked.